Saturday, August 27, 2005

The Laura Flanders ShowSaturdays and Sundays 7pm-10pm ETSaturday: LIVE FROM CAMP CASEY! This Saturday, the Laura Flanders Show will broadcast live from Crawford, Texas. Laura will cover the last climactic weekend before Cindy Sheehan hits the road. She'll be joined by British Gold Star dad Reg Keys who's bringing a lawsuit against his government, and others...DON'T MISS THIS HISTORIC BROADCAST.Sunday: FROM CRAWFORD TO DC... Laura gets the low-down on plans for protest weekend in Washington DC 9/24-26 And BACK TO SCHOOL -- hear what happened when a college professor Cathy Small went undercover as a freshman for a year.

Ruth: For those who e-mailed wondering where I've been, I wanted to spend some time with my grandchildren before school started so I gladly took C.I. up on the offer to take some time off.

For the Morning Edition Report, I've been attempting to listen to KPFA out of California online and had the worst problem. Tracey and my oldest grandson finally figured out what the problem was and added whatever needed adding or took off whatever needed taking off.

I treat the computer like I do my purse, I just want to be able to dig in and grab what I need. I don't reflect on how much my purse can hold or how it "works," I just expect it to hold what I need and do what it's supposed to. Which is my excuse for not knowing what they did. They tried to explain it but after two minutes of watching their lips move, I told them, "No more megillah."

Tuesday night I was finally able to listen to KPFA. Flashpoints is a show I'd heard of but never heard. The show is hosted Dennis Bernstein. Mr. Bernstein hit hard on Iraq and the need for the movement in this country to increase the protests. There was a serious discussion on Iraq that I've not heard on NPR so I'd recommend it to people who are tired of the waves of Operation Happy Talk that are quickly followed by "Oops, we might have been a little too optimistic . . ." Mr. Bernstein also dealt with Pat Roberston's fatwa on Hugo Chavez. That wasn't Mr. Bernstein's term but I heard about it, and heard the clip, on several shows today and that's the term I think applies. Mr. Bernstein was appropriately outraged by Mr. Robertson's remarks but I wonder why ABC thinks they can down play Mr. Robertson's remarks. Now Jesus isn't a figure I grew up studying, I'm Jewish, but I don't really see how this fit the teachings of Jesus or, for that matter, the Ten Commandments. Those topics were all just from Tuesday's show. Throughout the week, Mr. Bernstein and others on Flashpoints addressed the events in Gaza. What stands out most from the week long reporting on Gaza is the fact that events reported on Flashpoints would, later in the week, slowly trickle into the mainstream media in a watered down form.Originally I had a Morning Report ready for posting on Friday morning. Most of which appears in this entry; however, I had strayed from public radio to praise a show airing on commercial radio. Tracey called me to advise me to pull the report because the person in question, who'd been so on target during the early part of the week, had gone on to make repugnant remarks later in the week.For this entry, I've deleted my critique of that show and that host which is too bad because one of the reasons I'd noted the person was that members had e-mailed asking me to listen to the program and also because the person had the funniest line on Pat Robertson all week.I will note that it's unfortunate that some people can't decide where they stand on the war. Other than that, I have nothing to say.I also got more e-mails on The Laura Flanders Show which I enjoy as well; however, it's broadcast on commercial radio and the focus of Morning Edition Report is public radio. Ms. Flanders does host, alternating with Mary Ambrose, a public radio show on San Francisco's KALW. The one hour program is called Your Call and airs Mondays through Friday. (Ms. Ambrose hosts Mondays through Wednesdays and Ms. Flanders hosts Thursdays and Fridays.)Thursday's discussion revolved around global warming. If you've listened to The Laura Flanders Show, you know Ms. Flanders isn't an echo chamber. This was demonstrated on Thursday's show as she brought in two Native Americans to discuss the issue. They, and other guests, offered new perspectives and dimensions to the debate. Friday was a media roundtable that featured, among others, John Nichols of The Nation. Mr. Nichols was the only guest I heard on any program defending Pat Robertson's right to be stupid -- not the remarks Mr. Robertson's made but his right to use his freedom of speech to flaunt his ignorance.On programs and web sites I've heard and seen talk of using the Patriot Act to prosecute Pat Robertson. As someone opposed to the Patriot Act, I was saddened that some on the left would lose sight of principles in this instance. I agreed with Mr. Nichols that Mr. Robertson has the right to make idiotic remarks. I also agree with Media Matters for America's call for ABC to address the issue since Mr. Robertson's advocating the assassination of Hugo Chavez aired on ABC Family.Pacifica's The KPFA Evening News can be contrasted with any NPR newscast and win hands down. One of the benefits is that Aileen Alfandary and Mark Mericle never feel the need to repeatedly state, "This is . . ." Morning Edition is the worst offender but it's not the only one on NPR that feels the need to announce, throughout the show, the names of the hosts. If Morning Edition cut out the constant repetition, they could probably fit in an additional story, at least one. The other obvious difference is the lack of "cute" stories. It's a serious broadcast which also means none of the annoying bumper music that Morning Edition utilizes.

On Tuesday, they led with claims by the Bully Boy that Cindy Sheehan doesn't represent most military families views and then moved into the large protest against the Bully Boy in Idaho: "Today protesters out numbered residents in the tiny mountain town of Donnelly[,]" Idaho. Another report dealt with the apparent future for women in Iraq under the possible constitution. As one factual report after another was delivered in a serious manner with none of the anchor chatter that's become a hallmark of NPR, I was once again reminded of how soft and fuzzy NPR has become.

KPFA Evening News did have an indepth report on the latest revelations in the de Mendez shooting. They also looked at the issue of mercury in fish. If they could have found a "cute" angle on fish contaminated with mercury, Morning Edition might have covered it. For instance, if it had hit the parachuter tangled in power lines in the face or if it had eaten a loaf of "white wheat" bread, Steve might have been happy to bring the story to you.

When I stared doing the Morning Edition Report, I was of the opinion that NPR had gotten lazy and less focused on news. I'm still of that opinion; however, it's been an educational experience to discover Pacifica Radio. Both WBAI and KPFA offer strong programming. Morning Edition, by contrast, continues to divorce itself from reporting. One of the lowest moments may have occurred Wednesday. That's when Gaskateer Steve became the Morning Edition editor offering editorial comments. Noting a demand reported last year that "all foreign oil companies leave Nigeria by October first"1st," Steve Inskeep took off the Cokie Roberts' Gaskateer ears (or pearls) to offer this editorial comment:"That's how we reported last fall's demand which companies like Shell and Chevron could hardly afford to obey."The statement went beyond reporting. ". . . which companies like Shell and Chevron maintain they can hardly afford . . ." is reporting. What Steve did was editorialize and, considering the petroleum dollars pumped into NPR and PBS, listeners have a right to wonder why that comment was included in the "report" that aired?

The KPFA Evening News is one hour of programming Monday through Friday contrasted with Morning Edition which airs for approximately one hour and fifty minutes Monday through Friday. With the repeated announcements of "This is Steve Inskeep" and "I'm Steve Inskeep" as well as healthy helpings of bumper music and "cute" stories, there's apparently not a great deal of time to spare on actual news. KPFA is offering online archived programs. For those listening for news, it might be smart to start your day with an archived broadcast of the previous night's KPFA Evening News than a "fresh" broadcast of Morning Edition. KPFA broadcasts out of Berkeley, California and for those wanting to listen live, KPFA Evening Newsairs from six to seven p.m. Pacific Time.I had hoped to note KPFT, Pacifica's station out of Houston, Texas; however, they were in the midst of a pledge drive this week. I've read the e-mails from devoted listeners to KPFT and I hope to listen to some programs that air on that station soon.With KPFA, KPFT (which I did listen to but the programs were interrupted for the pledge drives) and WBAI (which is also archiving their broadcasts), I've been surprised to discover not only a wide range of voices but also consistently strong programming. I think that from those three stations alone, you could easily compile a daily listening schedule that would keep you near the computer for most of the day. I had no problem finding programs to listen to; however, I did have problems remembering the time zones and stations. For instance, I really wanted to catch Feminist Magazine Wednesday night. (Seven p.m. Pacific time, ten p.m. my time). On Sunday when I was working out a listening schedule, I noted Feminist Magazine; however, I'd labeled the program as KPFA when it airs on KPFK out of Los Angeles. Before I began listening to Pacifica Radio, I was under the impression that my choices for solid, informative radio were severely limited. Now I find that the "problem" is that there's so much out there.I encourage members to explore Pacifica Radio and, if you find a program that you enjoy, please e-mail me and I'll try to note it here. Like Micah, First Voices Indigenous Radio, Thursdays at ten a.m. Eastern on WBAI, is now one of my favorite programs.Marcia asked that, when I write again, I include something about my grandchildern. Last week, we did a lot of day trips, and Tracey and I went to a vigil for Cindy Sheehan in our area, but what stands out the most was when they wanted to pull out their grandfather's vinyl records. My husband had a huge record collection and could be very fussy about it so they are all in close to mint condition. Tracey and I had gone through photo albums earlier this summer and she couldn't believe the man she knew only as her grandfather was once in his own garage band. That led to my sharing that Treva was interested in the singer of a band and kept asking me to go watch them rehearse because she didn't want to hang around rehearsals all by herself. Treva lost interest in the singer quickly but that's how I met the semi-shy drummer with glasses and ended up marrying him a few years later.

Tracey took that story back to the other grandchildren and that didn't fit with the way that they remembered their grandfather so we pulled out his albums and played some. Jimi, Jefferson Airplane and Janis were especial favorites of my husband and Tracey pointed out that little Elijah smiled, grunted on the beat, and waved his arms when Janis was singing the lah-lah-lah parts of "Me & Bobby McGee." I think my husband would have been most pleased about about Elijah grunting on the beat.

Summer's winding down and we may not have had a Summer of Love, but we've certainly seen a Summer of Activism.

Joseph A. Ferrandino, 28, lives with his wife and son, Joseph Truman, in Florida. He recently earned a Bachelor's Degree in Criminology from the University of South Florida.I am a lifelong Democrat who named his son Truman. I have always felt that the Democratic Party was the party of the people, the party that represented the true American spirit, values and principles. I am today, sadly, a man with no representation in government. Rather than living in a democracy, I am living in a theocracy of the minority imposed on the majority. My party has let that happen and let me down.The core belief of a Democrat is that a nation is judged by what it does for it's poorest and most needy citizens. The Republican Party, the party in power at all levels of government, corporations and media, has always been the party of the rich minority. A perfect example is the newest energy bill approved by Congress. Yet gas prices rise. Electric bills rise. Home heating costs soar. President Bush and Congress signed that bill, with its billions of dollars for bridges to nowhere. That is just one of many mammoth bills from a "compassionate conservative" who has been running a country with high job losses, stagnated wages, the disappearance of health care and pensions, all while lowering taxes and waging war--the first American President in our history to do so. The question is why was this able to happen.The answer-the extinction of the Democratic Party.

Today when I was driving back and forth between Camp Casey II and the Crawford Peace House, I saw a lot of signs that say "I'm4W" "Support our Troops" and the one I hate the most: "Freedom isn't Free." I have excerpted an article I wrote a few months ago called: A Lie of Historic Proportions. I am not feeling well tonight, so I am heading to bed before six a.m. tonight.Iraq has been the tragic Lie of Historic Proportions of Washington, DC since before the first Gulf war. For years, Saddam was one of our government's propped up and militarily supported puppets. Many people have seen the famous footage of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam. I suppose the two are smiling so big for the cameras because they are kindred spirits. After all of the hand-shaking and weapon brokering, when did Saddam become such a bad guy to Bush, Cheney, Halliburton and Co.? (Insert your favorite reason here).During the Clinton regime the US-UN led sanctions against Iraq and the weekly bombing raids killed tens of thousands of people in Iraq. Many of them were children, but since one of her children didn't have to be sacrificed to the homicidal war machine, Madeline Albright, thinks the slaughter during the "halcyon" Clinton years was "worth it." More lies.Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of current events understands that this invasion/occupation of Iraq was not about Saddam being a "bad guy." If that logic is used, then how many innocent Iraqi people have to die before the citizens of America wake up and know that our government is a "bad guy?" We also know that Iraq was not about WMD's. They weren't there and they weren't going to be there for at least a decade, by all reports. Another reason, so wispy and more difficult to disprove, is that America invaded Iraq to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people. When one tries to dispute this particular deception, one is accused of being unpatriotic or hating freedom. Even though correct, the statement "Freedom isn't Free" is very insulting to me. False freedom is very expensive.

I have been paying attention to all of the good things The American Legion does: community service, veterans' advocacy, and lobbying for veterans' issues.Despite the Legion's support for European Fascism and Benito Mussolini 70 years ago, I felt that those sympathies of the past were just that: the past -- a dark chapter in the otherwise stalwart history of The American Legion.Yesterday, you proved me wrong.That your address to the National Convention this week repeated as fact the lies by which this country was led down the path to war in Iraq is despicable, but of only secondary importance to me. Passage of Resolution #3, and your statement that anti-war demonstrations should be suppressed "by any means necessary" is taken directly from playbooks written by Goebbels, Marcos and Duvalier.I cannot speak for you, but I enlisted, trained and fought with the ideal and willingness to protect and defend the rights of all Americans, not only the ones who agree with me. First among these rights, enumerated appropriately in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, are the freedoms of Speech, of Assembly, of Association, of Religion and of the Press.Now The American Legion has taken an official stand against The Constitution of the United States. You should be ashamed.

The most emotional thing for me though was walking through the main tent and seeing the huge painting on canvas of Casey. Many things hit me all at once: That this huge movement began because of Casey's sacrifice; thousands, if not millions of people know about Casey and how he lived his life and the wrongful way in which he was killed; but the thing that hit me the hardest was how much I miss him. I miss him more everyday. It seems the void in my life grows as time goes on and I realize I am never going to see him again or hear his voice. In addition to all this, the portrait is so beautiful and moving and it captures Casey's spirit so well. I sobbed and sobbed. I was surrounded by photographers, I looked around until I finally found a friendly face, then the news people crushed in on me and I couldn't breathe. I didn't mean to have such a dramatic re-entrance to Camp Casey, but the huge portrait of Casey really surprised me.I can take all of the right wing attacks on me. I have been lied about and to before. Their attacks just show how much I am getting to them and how little truth they have to tell. What really hurts me the most is when people say that I am dishonoring Casey by my protest in Crawford. By wanting our troops to come home alive and well, that I am somehow not supporting them.So, after Joan Baez gave us a great concert tonight, I got up and I talked about Casey. About the sweet boy who grew up to be a remarkable young man. Casey was not always a brave, big soldier man. He was my sweet, sweet baby once. I told the people at the Camp named after him, that when he was about 2 years old, he would come up behind me and throw his arms around my legs, kiss me on the butt and say: "I wuv you mama." I also talked about the loving big brother and wonderful, nearly perfect son. Casey was a regular guy who wanted to get married, have a family, be an elementary school teacher, and a Deacon in the Catholic Church. He wanted to be a Chaplain's assistant in the Army, but was lied to about that also by his recruiter. The last time I talked to him when he called from Kuwait, he was on his way to mass.

Attacks on US forces in Iraq are now back up over 70 per day…we'll cross the 2,000 dead mark before too much longer, and things are about to get much, much worse. As Iraqis continue to say, "Today is better than tomorrow." The same goes for US troops there.There is a reason why a relatively recent Army survey found that 54% of all soldiers in Iraq reported either "low" or "very low" morale.There is also a reason why, again according to the Army, that 30% of all soldiers returning from Iraq develop mental health problems 3-4 months after their return.And there is a reason why soldiers like Nicolas Prubyla come home and join organizations like Iraq Veterans Against the War."Up until five days ago, I had large amounts of blood in my stool," he told me recently, "I've felt tired all the time, I have had loss of hair…loss of the feeling in my right arm…I'm battling this stuff."What he is battling is exposure to uranium munitions in Iraq. He is battling radiation sickness as the result of the most recent nuclear war waged by the United States of America. There is a reason why over 11,000 veterans from the '91 Gulf War are dead today, and over 250,000 others are on medical disability. That reason (hundreds and hundreds of tons of uranium munitions dropped on Iraq) is the same thing Prubyla is battling today.

"So long as I'm the President, we will stay, we will fight, and we will win the war on terror."

The above is the Bully Boy blustering (and you can read more, listen or watch via Democracy Now!'s "Bush Rejects Calls for Immediate Withdrawal from Iraq as Approval Rating Plummets to New Low"). I didn't comment on this (Democracy Now!'s story aired Thursday morning) because I thought it was rather obvious. But I'm on the phone with my friend of "Walk on, walkon.org" fame and being asked to comment on it. The friend had earlier asked that we note the "dove" reference here -- when the man in Crawford fired off his gun and made the comment that he was getting ready for dove hunting season. I felt that was obvious (Camp Casey represents the "doves" -- peace) but my friend's telling me that "no one" dealt with that. (I'm finding that hard to believe but we'll move on before the bickering reaches a new high.)

The Bully Boy is not king. The American people have turned against the war (demonstrated in repeated polls). But on Wednesday he issued his royal edict that as long as he was, apparently, king, we'll continue this invasion/occupation.

This needs to be commented on and hopefully it has been. (I don't have time to surf the web.) We are in charge in this country. We may abdicate that responsibility, but the Bully Boy works for us, not the other way around.

While he blusters and bullies, it bears noting that he's saying the people be damned, he'll do what he wants. Like a pouty pre-teen, hairbrush in hand, standing before the bathroom mirror, Bully Boy angrily mouths the words to Janet Jackson's "Control:"

Control, ooh ooh Now I've got a lot, ooh Control To get what I want, ow! Control I'm never gonna stop Control Now I'm all grown up, ooh!

He (and the nation and the world) wishes he acted like he was "all grown up."

("Control" written by James Harris III, Terry Lewis and Janet Jackson and available on the Janet Jackson album of the same name.)

There is no "war on terror." Like "war on poverty" or "war on drugs" it's a phoney slogan we're supposed to rally behind. (How about a "war on stupidity?" I could support that.) Bully Boy's slogan, like everything else about him, is misguided (at best). His attempts to again tie 9/11 in with Iraq are insulting (most Americans finally wised up) but the sheer joy with which he voices the fact that he just doesn't care what American citizens want (may soon be demanding?) (some already are) does need remarking upon. (And I'm sure my friend is wrong and it's been noted many times already in many other places.)

Oh, the Times. Let's note Jennifer 8. Lee and Matthew Sweeney. (If you're going with the name of an Uma Thurman film, can't you go with a successful one? Then again, maybe Pulp Ficition Lee wouldn't sound that much better? -- put in at a friend's request.) Let's note their"Monthly Mass Bicycle Ride Leads to 49 Arrests in Manhattan" in this morning's New York Times -- a story so bad it took "2" writers to pen.

As the story's told in the paper (for chuckles?), "Since then [GOP convention last fall], the rides have become a point of contention with the police." Coming in very late on the story, the writers are either unaware that the "point of contention" occurred before the GOP convention or they simply don't care. "We observe, you decide." (From my friend who brought us, "Walk on, walkon.org.")

The "2" note:

The bicyclists, who have split into different starting points since the police confrontations began, began riding last night around 7:30. About 250 cyclists started in Union Square with 15 officers on scooters behind them. As that group moved through the city, officers from different directions converged on the group and bisected it, arresting bicyclists.

Why it all sounds so poetic, almost like a ballet on wheels. Let's leave the "2" for some reality.

SARAH TURNER: Hi, my name is Sarah Turner. I was on the corner of Second Avenue and 10th Street where the Critical Mass had just completed. The police came with a line of motorcycles. And they started pushing the bikes. And the bikers started pushing back. There was a man who was trapped under his bike. And the police all grabbed him at once. One police officer violently pushed his face into the ground and put his knee on the person's neck. The other police officers quickly were shouting to get back, as everybody was chanting, "Let him go, let him go." The police started taking out their batons and swinging them at the protesters. The protesters were chanting, "The whole world is watching." one police officer took out his pepper spray and said, "Get back, or you're all going to get sprayed."ELIZABETH PRESS: My name is Elizabeth Press. I'm a producer at Democracy Now! I was just arrested at 36th and 7th Ave. while documenting the Critical Mass bike ride. I pulled up to a red light. In front of me, the cops were arresting a mass group of bike riders. I pulled over to the side and put my camera on the arrests. And then the officer came up to me and said I was violating the law. After being detained I was then released at 34th and 7th Avenue.

The New York Times is reporting 49 arrests during last night's Critical Mass ride. I witnessed about twenty arrests at St. Marks and Third Ave. The Times also lists Houston St./ Second Ave., w. 18th St. and W. 34th St. as arrest locations.Earlier, as the ride proceeded along Greenwich Ave. towards 7th Ave. the NYPD attempted to block the front of the ride with vans while undercover officers on bikes aggressively chased cyclists. There was no warning given by the NYPD and their actions caused panic among peaceful cyclists who were forced to ride into oncoming traffic and risk their lives in order to avoid the trap.

Read the story closely and ask yourself who the "2" spoke to? Do you see a rider quoted? Do you see anyone from the rally? The bike ride takes place after the rally. There was a send off to the bike ride and numerous people participated in the send off but only one is noted: "Norman Siegel, a lawyer who represents the group. He is also a candidate for the city's public advocate."

That's the New York Times. (A point I thought we'd made long ago but then the visitor -- see previous entry -- pops up and we have to go into remedial mode.) Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber informed us of "sixes and sevens" and "nines" -- they just neglected to warn us of "8"s.(Ref to Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from Evita.)

The petition is the first deportation case involving AIDS to be accepted by the O.A.S. agency, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.Advocates for human rights say it points to a larger trend: As groups like deportable immigrants and death row inmates are being blocked from domestic courts by legislators impatient with protracted appeals, international bodies like the O.A.S. commission, the International Court of Justice at The Hague, and the United Nations Committee Against Torture are expanding their reach to fill the gap."In the past it hasn't been as relevant," in countries like the United States and Canada, said Brian Tittemore, a staff lawyer for the commission, which has mainly dealt with human rights abuses in Latin American member states since it was founded in 1965."Previously people were protected under those strong national Constitutions. But the more you see these gaps and gray areas, the more it matters."

Like his father, who ran this city for 21 years, Mr. Daley has been dubbed "mayor for life," but until now he had largely avoided the tarnish of corruption that plagued the elder Mayor Daley.Though the current Mayor Daley was recently named one of the nation's top big-city mayors by a national magazine, and continues to headline fund-raisers across the country, his popularity here has plummeted amid the scandal, with an approval rating of 53 percent in a Chicago Tribune poll this May. The same survey found that 57 percent of the public holds him personally responsible for the scandal, and suggested he would lose in 2007 if challenged by Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who is pondering a run.The interview with investigators came two days after hundreds of Chicago's business and political leaders flocked to a speech by Representative Rahm Emanuel titled "Mayor Daley's Chicago: A City We Can Be Proud Of." Intended to remind voters of the mayor's achievements in public schools, public housing and beautification of city streets, the speech in many ways only served to underscore his vulnerabilities. That Mr. Emanuel felt the need to rush to the mayor's defense said more than any of his words.

As the US-backed Iraqi puppet government flails about arguing over the so-called constitution, Iraq remains in a state of complete anarchy.There is no government control whatsoever, even inside the infamous"Green Zone" where the puppets seem to have tangled their strings.Why the harsh tone for the conflagrations of the so-called Iraqi government?Because the price paid for this unimaginably huge misadventure of the neo-conservative driven Bush junta is being paid by real human beings who shed real blood and cry real tears. Because well over 100,000 Iraqis and over 1,800 US soldiers would be alive today if it wasn't for the puppeteers of Mr. Bush.The coward sits behind his guards in Crawford, Texas, too afraid to deal with the reality of the grief he and his masters have caused to thousands of military families who have lost loved ones in Iraq.Meanwhile, fires are raging out of control not only in Iraq, but right here in the US."I ask you, Mr Bush, if you believe that this war is for 'Our Freedom' and 'Our Values' why don't you send your daughters to fight for freedom," wrote Fernando Suarez del Solar recently, who lost his son in Iraq due to the lies of Mr. Bush.He continued, "Why don’t your closest associates send their children to defend these values? Why are the children of immigrant families dying? Why are children from working families who are the least privileged dying? Why Mr. Bush? Why?"Of course Suarez del Solar knows the answer. It’s a rhetorical question asked of a prep school punk who has never earned nor risked anything. A smirking dimwit, who has never truly served his country, let alone fellow human beings outside of his gangster corporate crony pals who inserted him into the highest office…twice.

I want to make sure that we're all aware of Dahr Jamail's latest so I'll post this right now and start another entry noting two things that members e-mailed in on.

Most of the central figures faulted in the C.I.A. inspector general's report, notably George J. Tenet, the former director, retired last year. In response to previous reports on the 2001 attacks, the Central Intelligence Agency has been subordinated to a new director of national intelligence in the biggest reorganization of spy agencies since the C.I.A.'s creation in 1947."At this point, it's really about reputations," said Gregory F. Treverton, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council and now a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation.Yet leaders of the families of those who died in the attacks repeated their demand for individual accountability, which is what prompted Congress to ask John L. Helgerson, the C.I.A. inspector general, to begin his investigation nearly three years ago. On Thursday, the September 11 Advocates group demanded the immediate declassification and release of Mr. Helgerson's report, whose harsh conclusions have been disclosed only in limited leaks."To shield C.I.A. officials from accountability and to continue to cover up deficiencies in that agency puts the safety of our nation at risk," the group said in a statement. "Four years post-9/11 this is truly unacceptable."

The above is from Scott Shane's "With Only Reputations at Stake, Talk on C.I.A. Report Turns to How Much to Publish" in this morning's New York Times. It's our spotlight story.Shane does a good job of presenting various voices (and staying out of the fray). It's an article worth reading and, as with Shane's Friday piece, it's buried inside the paper. Apparently Apple and two recording companies being at war is front page news but the independent report on the failures of the CIA isn't?

Which brings us to a visitor who e-mailed saying that they couldn't believe my remarks yesterday. The paper, he argued, didn't bury the story. My reply, the paper put it inside the paper and not on the front page. Emphasis.

Where were the Twin Towers? Who ran more copy on the victims? New York City and the New York Times are the answers to both questions.

But here is a story on blame for the attacks of 9/11 (two of four planes hit NYC) and it's inside the paper?

I stand by my comments.

The visitor wrote that if it wasn't bad enough that I didn't give credit to the fact that they covered the story, I then accused the Times of being on the CIA payroll.

I made no such accusations. The Times and the CIA have a historical relationship. It has nothing to do with a payroll. I noted that if it was the FBI, it would have been a front page story.Why?

I thought that question had been dealt with here before. And while, unlike the military, we're not looking for "recruits" it may be time to address it again. (Ava and Jess did a tally of the e-mails to the public e-mail account and the private one for members, were I better prepared, I'd have that number handy right now. But, as noted last night, even with their help, I'm behind in the e-mails which continue to increase in number.) We have added new members since we last touched on this topic, so we'll address it again this morning. (Quickly address it. This will read like more of a rough draft than most entries here normally do.)

Meanwhile Scott Shane and James Risen's "Internal ReportSaid to Fault C.I.A. for Pre-9/11 Actions" doesn't get the emphasis itdeserves. Why? Probably due to the focus of the story, honestly. Here's anexcerpt:The report describes systemic problems at the agency before 2001,the officials said. In addition to criticizing Mr. Tenet; James L. Pavitt, theformer deputy director of operations; and J. Cofer Black, the former director ofthe agency's Counterterrorist Center, it offers praise for some specific actionstaken by them and other officials, they said.The findings place Mr. Goss in a delicate position. As chairman ofthe House Intelligence Committee in the years before the attacks, he influencedintelligence policies and monitored intelligence agencies. As a leader of thejoint Congressional inquiry into the attacks, he joined in requesting theinspector general's inquiry nearly three years ago.Now, as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he will haveto decide whether to take disciplinary action against any of those criticized,risking a further blow to the morale of an agency still charged with protectingthe country against future terrorist attacks.(The Times is, historically, very comfortable with criticizing theFBI, less so the CIA. Which is too bad since the report attempts to determinesome form of accountability.)

It's a class issue.

We've touched on this before. However, to give credit, besides being based on the historical, public record of the paper, this is also largely based on phone calls for a Third Esate Sunday Review piece. (I don't consider phone calls to be "research.") The piece ended up going in a different direction. (I believe they instead did a parody of Bill Keller that I took a pass on participating in.) As I understood the piece in the early stages, it was going to address the class issue at the Times. (There parody is humorous and a great piece, by the way. I'm not slamming it.) So I spoke to friends and acquaintences who had worked at the Times, to two friends who work there now, as well as to reporters at Newsday, the Washington Post and the LA Times. Pulling all of that together (and the public history of the paper) is the basis of this entry (which is too slight to be called an editorial so dub it an "op-ed").

It is a class issue. The same story on the FBI would have received more play (longer articles and front paged).

The structure at the Times didn't mix with "G-men" in the old days. They did mix with the CIA (prior to people becoming CIA). It has to do with "breeding" and other nonsense. There's an affinity for the CIA at the Times was my argument/accusations. If that's fresh or new to the visitor, he needs to pay more attention to the paper he's reading.

The FBI was always a little "too common" for the Times. It's the same reasoning that allows them to ignore Watergate because Kissinger says it's not a story. They took him at his word, Harvarad professor, and they take others at their word if their of a certain class. (Or "class.")The FBI has always been too blue collar for the Times.

Sorry if that judgement shocks anyone. (If it does, remember that I could be, and often am, wrong.) It's also why they repeatedly screw up their entertainment coverage. They identify "power" as being in the institution and they support some token representative from it (whom they can "relate" to). That's why they broke their own policy and allowed Peter Jackon to be trashed anonymously. Their source was their "type." Director Jackson wasn't. And in their world, the institution is everything. (They may receive a lesson in "power" as rumors abound about the identity of their "source" and their "source" being on the way out.) They fail to grasp that's not the case in the entertainment world where executives are so disposable. It's the sort of refusal to see the world on anything other than their own terms that resulted in the David Begelman story breaking in the Wall Street Journal and not the New York Times.

I'm not saying it's malice, I'm just saying they mix with a certain crowd and they don't with another. It's why the art expose gets buried in the seventies. Go down the list.

It's a "class" bias. As an institution, they chant "One of us. One of us. One of us" like the cast of Todd Browning's Freaks. (Which, come to think of it . . .) The affinity with the CIA is one of "class." I haven't accused them of being on the payroll.

I'm no fan of Daniel Okrent but when he addressed the issue of bias, he may have been attempting, badly, to address that issue. Which is why he raised social issues as an example (non-economic social issues). They aren't the grab the bag of Fritos crowd. Nor the Holy Rollers crowd. If Bill Keller could be successful remaking the Times into that (he can't be), he would be given his walking papers because, in the world of the Times, somethings simply aren't done.

Which raises the issue of the online edition of the Times moving to for-pay. The issue there will be how much it hurts the paper's reach. They're still lost in terms of the internet (understanding and utilizing the internet). I personally think that they don't know what they're in for. But on their end, if they can cut out some people, they're fine with a slight dip. They're not the paper for the masses nor do they wish to be. Their hope is that they will regain some cache by going for pay. (And move the 'riff-raff' on to some other paper.) (Money is a concern -- and greed -- but cache is the what they're most concerned with.)

The above opinions are based on the public history of the paper and repeated remarks from former employees as well as current employees and reporters at other papers . You're free to disagree with it. And I could be wrong. But if the theory (non-scientific -- in science terms, it's a hypothesis) is shocking to you, maybe you need to read the paper a bit more closely.

They want to be the paper of record (again, they pushed that slogan, Okrent was wrong). Paper of record, not paper of the people. Which is why, at their worst, they read like the Social Registry. (Which is also why they moved to include same-sex announcements.) They're the (aged) stock broker hitting the village on a Saturday night as a "lark." That's the New York Times.

This is an institutional issue. This is not saying that Scott Shane or Douglas Jehl or anyone else presently or in the past personally has this attitude. It's an institutional attidue that comes from the top (regardless of which family member sits at the top) and it's ingrained into the paper.

Brad e-mails wondering if I've taken Katrina vanden Heuvel's latest Editor's Cut, "The Importance of Being Lazy" (The Nation), to heart? (We'll quote from that in a moment.)

No. There's been a power outage. Posts will be going up on the Times. We have Ruth's Morning Edition Report which Ruth's held for Saturday this week to give us a little more to offer on what's become a traditionally dead day for this site. And possibly some other things (I'm going through the e-mails right now) so who knows.

The Air America Radio weekend schedule went up to get something up quickly (a number of e-mails ask if there will be any posts today) and, on that, I want to note, Marty Kaplan's So What Else Is News? isn't noted due to the fact that the show's been moved to an earlier time and by the time I was able to get online, the show had already aired.

I know how to work hard but not how to play. Take last summer. On my first night of vacation, I went to bed with David Brock's Blinded By the Right. I woke at 3:00 AM filled with guilt that I was not at The Nation, on the barricades, fighting vigilantly against the right-wing forces destroying our country. Like some 40 percent of Americans, I spent most of my time that vacation in (more than) daily contact with the office by e-mail, cell phone and fax.Another summer is here. It's been a long, arduous yet productive year at the magazine. (Don't get me wrong. I love my job. After all, how many people have work they find meaningful, filled with passion and purpose? But boy, am I tired.)So, this August, I decided that I needed some justification for playing, dozing, gazing, ambling and goofing off without guilt. And, after some research, I found my guide: The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure and Vacations, by Loyola College philosophy professor and Chicago radio personality Al Gini.It's an engaging, eclectic, idiosyncratic account of the history of vacations and play--and a reasoned justification of why we need leisure in our lives. In fact, Gini goes even farther, drawing on studies of Americans' vacation habits to show why "doing nothing" is a fundamental human necessity. (Gini relies on the latest academic research as well as interviews, personal anecdotes, the writings of various ancient and contemporary theologians and the well-chosen observations of people like Aristotle, Mark Twain, Thorstein Veblen, Juliet Schor and Arlie Hochschild.)The book's thesis is both simple and liberating:Even if we love our jobs and find creativity, success and pleasure in our work, we also crave, desire, and need not to work. No matter what we do to earn a living, we all seek the benefits of leisure, lassitude and inertia...All of us need to play more. All of us need to 'vacate' ourselves from our jobs and the wear and tear of the 'everydayness' of our lives. All of us need to get absorbed in, focused on, something of interest outside of ourselves. All of us need escape, if only for a while, to retain our perspective on who we are and who we don't want to be. All of us need to gain some feeling for, some knowledge of, the differences between distraction and insight, merriment and meaning, entertainment and recreation, laziness and leisure, rest and inertia.

(FYI, the excerpt above, selected by Brad, is actually Katrina vanden Heuvel quoting from a 2003 piece she wrote.)

Liberal ArtsSaturdays 1pm-2pm ETKatherine sits down with authors Walter Mosley ("47") and Helen Oyeyemi ("The Icarus Girl") and with musical guest Abdel Wright, who Bono has called "the most important Jamaican artist since Bob Marley."

Ring of FireSaturdays 5pm-7pm ET. Rebroadcast Sundays 3pm-5pmThe pulpit has taken a screeching right turn in many churches, but some religious leaders are trying to grab the wheel and steer another course. Mike talks with Dr. Bruce Prescott, a long-time Baptist pastor and executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists.Then, Evangelical Christians as radical progressives? Strange but true. Evangelicals were at the forefront of the "freedom train" that helped fugitive slaves escape over a span of six decades. Bobby talks with Fergus Bordewich, author of "The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America."Do the Bush administration’s "extraordinary wartime powers" -- such as the detentions at Guantanamo -- have any legal foundation or historical precedent? Mike talks with Pierce O’Donnell, one of the country’s top trial lawyers and author of In Time of War, a cautionary tale about the excesses of an overreaching executive. Pap attack: Hate Hags.

The Laura Flanders ShowSaturdays and Sundays 7pm-10pm ETSaturday: LIVE FROM CAMP CASEY! This Saturday, the Laura Flanders Show will broadcast live from Crawford, Texas. Laura will cover the last climactic weekend before Cindy Sheehan hits the road. She'll be joined by British Gold Star dad Reg Keys who's bringing a lawsuit against his government, and others...DON'T MISS THIS HISTORIC BROADCAST.Sunday: FROM CRAWFORD TO DC... Laura gets the low-down on plans for protest weekend in Washington DC 9/24-26 And BACK TO SCHOOL -- hear what happened when a college professor Cathy Small went undercover as a freshman for a year.

The Kyle Jason ShowSaturdays 10pm-Midnight ETKyle and Doug talk to guitar god Les Paul, the man who pioneered both electric guitar technique and multi-track recording as we know them today. Throughout this exclusive interview they'll be playing tracks off his new album, copies of which they'll be giving away to a handful of their luckiest listeners.

EcotalkSundays 7-8 am ETBetsy zooms in on the ugly side of the beauty industry. What's in our deodorants, moisturizers and shampoos thats not so pretty? Lots of ingredients that have not been tested for effects on human health. Some chemicals found in popular personal care products are known carcinogens and may be harmful to reproductive health. She'll talk to several leaders in the Safe Cosmetics Campaign about what's being done to regulate skin products and how the major players in the beauty business are responding, or not.

Mother Jones RadioSundays 1pm-2pm ETMore investigative reporting with Angie Coiro. [Note: My guess is that's all the information that will be posted at AAR, you can check the Mother Jones Radio page at Mother Jones to see if they update for this weekend's guest -- they haven't so far.]

Politically DirectSundays 2pm-3pm ETThis Sunday, David Bender takes a hard look at our electoral system...and it isn't pretty. Joining him are Congressman Christopher Shays, blackboxvoting.org founder Bev Harris and California Professor Judy Alter, who is championing a system of "parallel elections" to keep the ballot counters honest. Honest ballot counting? That's so 20th Century....Ring of FireRebroadcast Sundays 3pm-5pmThe pulpit has taken a screeching right turn in many churches, but some religious leaders are trying to grab the wheel and steer another course. Mike talks with Dr. Bruce Prescott, a long-time Baptist pastor and executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists.Then, Evangelical Christians as radical progressives? Strange but true. Evangelicals were at the forefront of the "freedom train" that helped fugitive slaves escape over a span of six decades. Bobby talks with Fergus Bordewich, author of "The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America."Do the Bush administration’s "extraordinary wartime powers" -- such as the detentions at Guantanamo -- have any legal foundation or historical precedent? Mike talks with Pierce O’Donnell, one of the country’s top trial lawyers and author of In Time of War, a cautionary tale about the excesses of an overreaching executive. Pap attack: Hate Hags. The Laura Flanders ShowSaturdays and Sundays 7pm-10pm ETSunday: FROM CRAWFORD TO DC... Laura gets the low-down on plans for protest weekend in Washington DC 9/24-26 And BACK TO SCHOOL -- hear what happened when a college professor Cathy Small went undercover as a freshman for a year.

Francisco: Hello, in English, here are 17 headlines from Democracy Now! (There are 18 in Spanish because one item below is split into two items in the Spanish version.) Pass on to a friend.

2,000 Protest Bush in Salt Lake CityWhile President Bush was speaking, anti-war demonstrators gathered outside calling for the troops to be brought home from Iraq. Protest organizers in Salt Lake City had taken out a permit for a one-thousand person protest - but more than twice that many took to the streets. Celeste Zappala - who co-founded Gold Star Mothers for Peace with Cindy Sheehan - addressed the crowd. Her 30-year-old son Sherwood Baker died in Baghdad last year.

200 Protest Bush in Tiny Idaho Town of 130In Idaho Bush is staying at Tamarack Resort, known for its world-class ski mountain, its professional golf course and the beautiful Lake Cascade. Meanwhile anti-war protesters met Bush in Idaho. Even though the tiny town of Donnelly only has a population of 130, some 200 protesters took to the streets Monday night. Protests were also held in Boise. There were reports protesters planned to issue a citizen's arrest warrant for the president. Laura McCarthy, whose son is in Iraq, said at a rally "President Bush probably breathed a sigh of relief when he landed in Idaho last night. But no matter where he goes, he's going to find a Cindy Sheehan in every community across the United States. The name is going to be different, but the message is going to be the same."

Bush's Approval Rating Plummets to New Low of 36%Meanwhile opinion polls show President Bush's approval rating has dropped to a new low of just 36 percent -- according to the latest survey from the American Research Group. Bush's approval rating is now lower than Richard Nixon's was at the height of the Watergate scandal.

U.S. Drafts Plans to Keep 100,000 Troops in Iraq Until 2009The Pentagon is drafting plans to keep over 100,000 troops in Iraq for the next four years. Gen. Peter Schoomaker told the Associated Press, the Army is already making plans for troop deployments in Iraq through the year 2009. He admitted that keeping over 100,000 troops in Iraq that long is a possibility but he described it as a "worst case" scenario. This comes as a high-ranking Republican Senator has publicly compared the war in Iraq to Vietnam. "We are locked into a bogged down problem, not unsimilar, dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam," said Hagel. "The longer we stay, the more problems we're going to have."

Rep. Lynn Woolsey to Hold Hearings on Iraq Exit StrategyIn Washington, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey of California has announced she will hold hearings on Sept. 15 on how the U.S. can leave Iraq. She said the hearings will be modeled on the one organized by Congressman John Conyers about the Downing Street Memos. Woolsey said, "We'll hear from academics, military personnel and other experts about strategies to achieve military disengagement while still playing a constructive role in the rebuilding of Iraqi society." The hearings will come a week before the major Sept. 24 anti-war rally in Washington.

Iraqi Constitution: the Stalemate ContinuesThe stalemate over Iraq's new constitution has intensified, as lawmakers failed for a third time to reach any agreement on the document. For more than a week, the major division over the constitution has served as a symbol of miscalculation on the part of the Bush administration, which had predicted the document would be done on time. The constitutional debates came to a halt after some senior Shiite leaders said they would bypass their Sunni counterparts, as well as Iraqi lawmakers, and send the document directly to Iraqi voters for their approval. The moves by the Shiites to ignore the Sunnis' request for changes to the draft sparked threats from the Sunnis that they would urge their people to reject the document when it goes before voters in a national referendum in October. The major division right now centers around the attempts by some powerful Shiite factions to establish a provincial confederation in southern Iraq that would lay special claim to that region's oil resources, reducing the Sunni Arab share.

Bloodshed in Iraq: Violence Among Religous FactionsAs the debate over the constitution rages on, bloodshed continues to dominate the news coming out of the country. Over the past 2 days some 100 Iraqis have been killed, a significant number of them in fighting among various religious factions. The fighting has spurred radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr to appear in public after his offices were hit by gunmen. Sadr and his Mehdi Army, have popular support in Iraq's poor central provinces and are opposed to a federated Iraq putting Sadr as the same side of the majority of Sunnis. On Thursday, al Sadr's supporters clashed with pro-constitution Shias of the Badr group, led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. al Sadr accused him of being responsible for the attacks.Moqtada al Sadr: “I demand that brother Abdul Aziz al-Hakim make an official announcement condemning the aggression by his representatives and some extremists, against the office of the honourable martyr (his father, Sadr). We hope he and the brothers from the Badr Organisation will do."Meanwhile, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani also escaped an assassination attempt in which eight of his bodyguards were killed and 15 injured. This comes as Iraqi police found the bodies of 36 men near the Iranian border who were reportedly handcuffed and executed.

Camp Casey Vigil Heads to Washington Next MonthIn the United States, Cindy Sheehan has spent her second night back at Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas and announced she will take her vigil on the road next month, following President Bush in Washington. She said she would launch a bus tour from Crawford starting on September 1 that will converge on Washington, on September 24 in time for the major antiwar rally planned for that day. On Thursday, the American Friends Service Committee presented Sheehan with the boots of her son Casey who was killed in Iraq. His boots have been part of a traveling memorial to soldiers killed in Iraq called "Eyes Wide Open." Mark Andersen of the American Friends Service Committee presented the boots to Sheehan.Mark Anderson: "Too many people have died, both military and civilian. This travesty must end, and our brave and dedicated troops must be brought home and brought home now. Cindy, I want to know that it has been a profound privilege to care for these precious boots of your beloved son, Casey, and I now return them to you, so they may serve as a guiding light to carry your message forward, so that together we can continue the struggle to end this war."Meanwhile, Cindy Sheehan is striking back at the smear campaign being waged against her by several powerful media personalities and the Bush administration. She directly confronted those who claim that her son would be against what she is doing.Cindy Sheehan: "I know my son. I know him better than anybody else. And, he wasn't married, we were very close. He called me everyday when he was at Fort Hood. We talked about all of his life, all of my life. And, I lost my best friend when I lost my son. But I know my son. And, I know he would say 'I don't want anymore of my buddies killed just because I am dead; I want my buddies to come home alive.' And I know when I get up to greet him, when it is my time, he is going to say 'good job, Mom.' He is not going to accuse me of dishonoring his memory. And, anybody who knows my son better than me, would like to come forward and tell me something different, I would be glad to hear their voices."As Sheehan settles in at Camp Casey 2, which is closer to President Bush's property than her original location, prowar activists are making their way to Crawford for a rally on Saturday. Sheehan and other antiwar military families have invited prowar families of soldiers killed in Iraq to share a meal with them this weekend. One of those parents has challenged Sheehan to a debate, while others have set up a new site called "Camp Reality." Meanwhile, the Rev. Al Sharpton has announced he will travel to Crawford this weekend for a prayer service on Sunday.

Joan Baez & Others Rally At Camp Casey in Crawford, TXMeanwhile in Crawford Texas, military families, veterans and anti-war activists are continuing their vigil at Camp Casey outside President Bush's 1,600-acre estate. Folk singer Joan Baez spoke to reporters on Monday. "I think the question that nobody wanted to deal with is the question that they're posing - why did my kid die in vain," Baez said. "Because the answer is too awful." Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and actress Margot Kidder have also stopped by the Crawford protest site. Kidder - who is best known for playing Lois Lane in Superman - said she became a U.S. citizen last week in order to be able to protest the war in Iraq without facing the possibility of deportation.

Amb. Joe Wilson Defends SheehanWith the stage set for a possible show down in Crawford this weekend, more prominent figures are lending their support to Sheehan. In recent days, musicians Joan Baez and Steve Earle have performed at Camp Casey. Veteran civil rights activists and many veterans of the Iraq war are camped out there. On Wednesday, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson issued a statement saying "The Bush White House and its right-wing allies are responding to Cindy Sheehan and the military families' vigil in central Texas in the same way that they always respond to bad news -- by unleashing personal attacks and smears against her."

Librarians Challenge Patriot ActLibrarians have begun a landmark challenge to a controversial clause of the USA Patriot Act that demands information about library patrons' borrowing records. The lawsuit was filed against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut by an unnamed library and the American Civil Liberties Union. The suit was filed on August 9 and made public by the ACLU on Thursday. It calls the FBI's order to produce library records "unconstitutional on its face" and said a gag order preventing public discussion of the lawsuit is an unlawful restraint on speech. Critical details of the lawsuit were blacked out on the ACLU's Web site in compliance with the gag order. The library is thought to be based in Connecticut since the lawsuit was filed there with the participation of the Connecticut branch of the ACLU.

Pat Robertson Lies, Then Apologizes for Chavez ThreatA day after calling for the assassination of Venezuela's Democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez, rightwing Christian extremist Pat Robertson has apologized. He said "Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him," Robertson said. But incredibly, before Robertson issued that apology, he went on national television Wednesday and denied he had ever made the remark. Robertson issued his denial during an interview with former ambassador-at-large to Venezuela and outspoken Chavez critic Thor Halvorssen on The 700 Club:The 700 Club:HALVORSSEN: Now, I think that it's very important to also note your comments were about assassination. The person -- I think that alternative is lowering to his level.ROBERTSON: Wait a minute, I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should "take him out," and "take him out" can be a number of things including kidnapping. There are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP, but that happens all the time. What is interesting about that statement is the fact that it’s not true. Robertson's comments calling for Chavez' assassination were actually broadcast on his own program, the 700 Club on Tuesday.You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. The White House has resisted calls for President Bush to repudiate Robertson, who has been a major supporter of President Bush and the Republican Party, even running as a candidate for president in 1988.

Family of Killed Brazilian Man Demands InvestigationThe family of Jean Charles de Menezes is in London this week demanding an investigation into his death. Menezes was shot dead by British police in a London subway station last month. At first, British police said they believed Menezes was a suicide bomber. They claimed he had run from police and was wearing a bulky jacket. But since then it has been revealed that he was innocent and that police lied about the circumstances of his death. Menezes' cousin Alessandro Pereira spoke in London on Monday. "The family has called for a full public enquiry into all the circumstances into the death of my cousin including the shoot to kill policy and the lies we have been told by the Metropolitan Police," Pereira said. "Every day we discover more and more lies. We have heard too many. We seek justice."

Peruvian Man Dies in Texas After Being Pepper SprayedIn Texas a Peruvian man has died after being pepper sprayed by police. On Aug. 4, police pepper sprayed 45-year-old Edgar Vera after he allegedly resisted arrest. Police tried to arrest Vera for an outstanding warrant for a seat belt violation. The Peruvian government is calling for an investigation into his death.

Police Taser Anti-War Protesters in PittsburghIn Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania dozens of anti-war demonstrators attempted to shut down a military recruiting center on Saturday. Two protesters were hospitalized after suffering injuries at the hands of the police. Officers shot one woman with a Taser stun gun as she was lying on the street. Pittsburgh Indymedia captured the scene on tape. Another woman -- who was 68 years old -- was bit in the thigh by a police dog. At least five protesters were arrested. The police defended the level of force used. A spokesperson said, "When you're fighting with police officers, we're allowed to use the force necessary to effect an arrest, up to and including Taser."

SWAT Teams Raid Utah Rave; 60 ArrestedPolice officers in Utah are also coming under criticism for using excessive force. On Saturday dozens of armed officers dressed in military fatigues raided a peaceful rave in Spanish Fork Canyon. 60 people were arrested. Attendees of the party reported incidents of police brutality and the unnecessary use of tear gas. Police defended the raid by citing the confiscation of drugs and drug paraphanelia at the rave.

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.